Muhlenberg men focused on winning, each other

Mules have new roles, but a common bond

Freshman Malique Killing was spinning, twisting and elevating his way to 21 of his career-high 30 points in the first half of a recent Muhlenberg victory.

When the lightning-fast guard took a glance at the Mules bench, he saw plenty of support.

"What makes or breaks a team is how the players respond to each other's success," junior guard Matt O'Hara said. "When you looked down the bench, everybody was genuinely happy for him."

That is important because Killing's performance in that game showed two things:

Killing has the game; and that Muhlenberg basketball is doing a 180.

"Everybody's role on the team is different," coach Scott McClary said. "Everybody processes things differently. Everybody's personalities are different."

With five freshmen arriving at campus and immediately affecting the role of every returnee, chemistry could have been a real problem. It could have blown up the program.

Though they are just nine games into the season, the Mules appear to have weathered that storm just fine.

"If we were having this conversation the last week of the season, I'd say it's a work in progress," McClary said. "We have made a lot of progress in that area, but at the same time, we have a lot of progress to make."

Muhlenberg takes a 7-2 record into the holiday break, 2-2 in Centennial Conference play.

The Mules have experienced a couple of rocky times as they transition to a different style of play at both ends of the floor.

While the offense has flourished, scoring points at a record pace, the defense is slower to come around.

They are giving up 69.0 points per game this season, nearly seven more than last season.

"We need to be stronger, most consistent defensively," McClary said. "We're giving up a lot more points than I'm comfortable with. To compete for a championship in our conference, we're certainly going to have to be better defensively."

O'Hara attributes some of those shortcomings to learning to play with each other, but said another change is taking longer for everyone to get accustomed to.

"The biggest thing is a new defensive system," he said. "We're learning when to jump and trap and get in the passing lane. We're trying to pick our spots to get aggressive, cause turnovers and get on the fastbreak — where we're a very dangerous team.

"We've given up a ton of offensive rebounds early in the year. That's not a formula for success. We want to get the rebound and get on the fast break. Sometimes we forget to get the ball first."

Muhlenberg is a plus-71 in defensive rebounds this season, but a minus-2 on the offensive end. Other numbers are a little sub-par, too. Foes have more assists, steals and blocked shots.

But the Mules believe on-court chemistry and effort won't be problems as they chase a Centennial crown.

Offensively, they are sharing the scoring load. Senior captain Spencer Liddic, who led the conference in scoring the previous two seasons, is down from 20.4 ppg last season to 18.0 in 2011-12.

"Playing four freshmen and two sophomores, there is an understanding that experience is the greatest teacher," McClary said. "[But] experience gives you the exam first and the lesson second.

"The details of defense and preparation are different in college than high school. They are learning that now. The chemistry is better than I thought it would be. Is it where I want it to be? No, but we've got great balance."

A big part of that balance lies in Liddic, who is as laugh-out loud funny off the court as he is consistently good in the gym.

"Spencer is the biggest goofball," O'Hara said. "It's good when the captain knows when to be serious and when to be loose."

This group took advantage of a Thanksgiving-break trip to Washington, D.C. to begin to understand the personalities inside the jerseys and develop friendships.

There were fun times in the hotel rooms, educational experiences at the historic sites in the nation's capital and challenges met on the court.

So far, everything is headed in the right direction, evidenced by the fact that Muhlenberg played its strongest two games of this season immediately following the team's two losses.

"The best step they took as players is they took ownership of the losses," McClary said. "Even before the next games, you could see they approached things the right way in practice.